Hel vs. Odin (Botgd 1 material that is now technically a flashback due to lost threads)
The two deities crashed into one another, once again sending earthquake vibrations through the earth. Hel had been none too pleased getting tossed halfway across the continent, nor a fan of the swipe Odin had made at Haddock and Stonegit as a result. Now the two were back in the same place, fighting ferociously to end it all.
Hel’s closed, three toed fists came up to slam repeatedly into Odin’s natural armor, the strikes scarcely causing the god to lose his step. Her opening attack had been good, but now things did not look so certain. Odin rose up on his back legs and fell down onto her hands, pinning them as his jaws came around to close on the back of her neck. “Ah, now ay see why yoo focus so eh’vaily on your use of trickery there girly.”
With a grunt her tossed her off to the side, and then struck her with his massive paw. “Aye ye may be strong...but meh shield’s don’t crack for anyhi’n. Snitchin souls and pullin tricks were all ye had for cultivating a hope of winnin ey?”
Hel reeled as she was struck again. The last fight she had was with the witch monster, and her hands could fit around that things neck. Now she was doing battle with a member of her family that she was only half the size of. Her paws dug into the ground, creating great gorges and ravines in the earth. She spat once off to the side, and then bullied into him again, shoving him back a few paces. Odin snarled as he pushed back, feeling his feet shift, and then he hit her with a swing of his tusks.
Hel hit the ground again, a gash in the side of her head. Odin reached down and grabbed her by the scruff. “Ya know I don like doin this lass...but all of ey rocked the boat. Ye thin I won take care of the souls? I know the mistakes we made. I’ll do better. Ya know the others aren’t cut oot for this. But what makes ey thin yed do any bettah than me?”
With a snarl Hel shoved away from him, throwing more punches which Odin blocked. ‘Because I know you! All of you and your idiotic clubhouse treatment of souls!’ Hel was momentarily hoisted up before getting slammed on the ground. She caught Odin’s following attack however, and got back up. ‘Oh hel’s so terrible. Hel is where all the bad people go. Well only because the rest of you lot would have just as soon tossed them away like dregs or pretended they didn’t exist! Face it! You’re elitist dicks! So of course I took all the people you deemed bad.’
Odin shook his head. “Ya can’t blame me for honorin tha brave lass…”
‘Oh yes I can!’ Hel snapped back. ‘You act like they aren’t part of us!’
An uppercut knocked Hel into a snapped, ridgid position and Odin plowed into her. “Well las I checked there...so were you lass…” He struggled with her. “Ye tricked me plenty but I saw yeh enough. The cocky attitude, the demands, the belittling. Why yer a right prick to those wee bastards.”
Hel stared at him wide eyed, and then angrily got out from his hold, and threw another flat sounding punch into his blocking arm. ‘It’s not my fault they can’t read between the lines or see the big picture!’
“Eh...sounds like an exscuse ta be a bitch. Ya always liked acting like that Hel, ye said it yourself.”
‘Well that’s better than giving them enough details for them to exploit loopholes to an abhorrent level! Which is what you allowed your man to do!’
“We all cheated in our own way Hel...that’s just ow it was. But stay on point. I know ye were thinkin you were better than them.”
“Yeah well thin is I saw ye after that stunt with...les see...Greg yea? Ya got lectured by one of yer own wee souls in light of that fiasco. And ye could barely hold the tears back. A God put in place by a human.”
‘My pride isn’t fragile enough for that to hurt gramps.’
Odin leaned back with a serious look. “Aye, maybe not for what I said...but what they said to yeh fo sure.”
He suddenly burst forward, one of his tusks catching her shoulder. “Ya thin I can’t see it?! How yer heart aches for them constantly!? How any word they speak against you stings, as if you’re a child?! How ye have no idea how to get through to them?” He shoved her back, beginning to beat Hel with his monstrous paws. “You act one way but yer heart is all in for those wee souls! But they’re gon hurt yeh! They gon defy yeh! Blame yeh! And only say it was for yeh when it was the exact opposite of what yeh instructed! Face it Hel, humans are fookin MEAN!”
Hel was once again thrown off to the side and Odin faced the battlefield. “I know how tah deal with it already Hel. Yer green...ya won get this right.”
‘They deserve...a better chance...than a mere sectioned out fate…’ Hel gasped, ink like blood trickling from her head and lips as she, once again, pulled herself back up. ‘I don’t know if I’ll get it right...but at least I’ll try...when I know you won’t. Rewards for the good...chances for the bad...the right to choose how they live that doesn’t involve a checklist a hoops just to avoid getting tossed into a cold black sea!’
“Like ah said...I’m gon do better.”
‘And equal...no...favorites…’
Odin paused, and then scoffed, his tusks beginning to glow with a warm, sunlight like power. “I won get into that with yeh...but lemme make another point instead.” He opened his mouth, a smiting blow beginning to charge and boil in the back of his throat. He looked down at the rebels.
‘NO!’ Hel bellowed, blindly rushing forward and catching him around the neck. ‘I won’t let you harm them!’
Odin’s claws caught around her skull, blood flowing like rivers from the injury. He stared down at her with withering eyes, the charge still increasing in heat, and strength. “Ya see!? Yer not actin like this because me getting a bunch o ya souls with this blast will make me stronger and you weaker! Yer acting like this cause yer overly attached! Even a leader knows when to let go of a soldier who is going to pass in glorious and honorable battle!’
‘They’re not soldiers! They're not SOLDIERS!’ Hel weakly struck against him with her hands, her own blood nearly blinding her eyes as Odin gripped her head. ‘They not toys! Or buddys! Or disposable tools! They’re children they’re CHILDREN!’ Her hands came up, attempting to close Odin’s mouth, the pads of her paws starting to singe on the heat of his jaw and neck. ‘I…’ she stammered, almost with a whimper. ‘I can’t let you...they’re my babies…’
Odin looked down at her, set his jaw, and then, without another word, slammed her to the ground. With a roar he rolled her harshly, dropped onto all fours, and then thrust his tusks into her side.
Hel’s mouth opened in a wordless scream, her body going rigid stiff, and then she flattened onto the earth. Odin raised his body up to look down at her, and then tilted his head back with a roar.
As the clash of the battle raged on below him, he turned to face it once more, the smite cooling in his throat. He waited to see the fighting falter, as it would in the event of a god’s death. He waited to see the rebellion souls become his own. His people had fought and served him well. Their bravery had enabled this victory.
The cries and ringing of steel continued…
The image of Haddock, fighting, believing, honoring the god he fought under flashed in his mind. A boy dressed in a green shirt lay blooded in the snow, he didn’t seem to like Hel a whole lot...but his faith…
There was a small halfbreed missing her ears, and agent, fighting for all she was worth. Her father, a long time follower of his granddaughter. A leader, who disagreed, but was standing by her family. A traitor who changed his mind. An older man, who had read between the lines. They were all…
He looked back at Hel’s still form, and saw her twitch.
This isn’t even her full numbers! A comparable handful of souls is doing this much!?
One of Hel’s feet raised steadily into the air, and then pressed into the ground with a resolute grip. Coughing once with a stream of inky blood escaping her lips, Hel craned her head around to look at him. ‘Alright…’ She admitted. ‘So I go out of my way to be a dick. Even though I let my feelings get easily hurt. You were right about that...but don’t you see now...what I see?’
Odin looked in some bafflement between the rebels and Hel. He saw alright, but he didn’t understand. His numbers were greater. More power was going to him. And he knew for a fact that so many of the rebels detested Hel despite being contracted by her so… “But...” He managed to breath. “My soldiers...my numbers…”
‘Those men...are here for Valhalla…’ Hel breathed as she got up, clenching her fists. ‘But I have children...who are here…’ Her eyes flared as she surged forward. ‘For ME!’
Seeing the attack coming, Odin brought his arms, sending a surge of power into his natural, scalley armor.
Hel’s fist made contact, and then split Odin’s forearm, a great gash going straight down the middle. Odin bellowed as he reared backwards. WHAT!? HOW?!
He didn’t have time to deliberate the question rushing through his mind, as Hel came around again and socked him squarely across the jaw. The impact actually knocked the god off his feet and he rolled once before getting back up.”Hel!” He roared. “Ye cheatin again!” Odin caught her fist as he drew back his own. “I know ye are! You-!”
Odin’s head was shoved back as Hel smashed an open hand into his face, golden streams of blood flying from his nose. ‘No!’ Hel snarled at him, grabbing his tusks and bringing one of her knees up to strike him directly under his jaw. ‘No more games! No more lies! This...Odin!’ She drew back other hand and Odin hastily brought up his arms again. ‘Is the reality of faith!’
Odin bellowed as his arms were split apart from one another, and the fist slammed into him again. Now blood was in his eyes as well. His roar shook the ground as he locked hands with Hel. He attempted to pusher her back, shove her down, but she didn’t budge. “It can’t be! It isn’t!” He snarled. “It’s not how this works! Whether some are just here for my fields or not! You couldn’t have gotten this powerful from that handful I felt down there! There’s even someone, many someones, who don’t even like or believe in this fight at all! So why, how are you…” His rant began to slow, realizing that his arms were steadily getting pushed back, Hel’s gaze blazing into his. “Becoming...this...strong…”
‘Because.’ Odin gave an involuntary gasp as Hel’s grip began to crush his hands. ‘I realized...that no matter how much they may disappointment me, or hurt me. No matter how much I get wrong!’ Hel gritted her teeth, and slowly began to lift Odin off his feet. The older god’s leg scrambled at the ground, looking in wonder down at his granddaughter, his expression baffled. ‘They don’t need to believe in me! Because I, believe, in them!’
Odin let out another yell, and then his face was planted solidly into the earth with a mighty crash. Almost immediately he was hauled back up, and Hel proceeded to beat him to the brink of deliriousness. Her strikes were harder than anything Odin had experienced. Only the clamping jaws of Fenrir could have demonstrated greater physical might. His head snapped back and forth as Hel pressed into him, the great wounds in her sides still pooling dark blood around her feet.
Faith in humans too...!? I’ve never hear...of such a thing...
Another strike, this one caused the eyes in his sockets momentarily roll from the impact.
Could there really be so much to living in such a way...for a god?
His teeth rattled and he felt his form tipping over sideways.
But I believe in my soldiers too, they’re brave, they’re skilled!
Odin’s back hit the ground and Hel straddled him, raining fists down into his face in rapid succession. Then there was a twinge. Despite the pain of his body, Odin felt the pull in his heart. His whole army adored him as their leader. He adored them as his finest warriors. But he could feel the power and will radiating from Hel. It then clicked. At the end of it all...he was fighting for himself. Hel was fighting for them. He never would have imagined such a way would have yielded any results, much less this.
The back of his head sank a little into the ground as Hel dropping another straight punch into him. “Eno-!” He choked out, interrupted by another strike. “Enough-!” He yelled again, fighting against her. But Hel pressed on, redoubling her attack. A glow warmed up in Odin’s throat as fury filled his system. “I- said- Enooough!”
A streak of fiery sunlight erupted from his mouth, engulfing Hel where she stood over him. Hel withered against the flames, her form curling in on itself, but her hold on Odin’s neck remained. Odin’s eyes narrowed as he kept up the stream of fire, intent on driving her off, or desintergrating her. Skin peeling as burns spreading over her form, Hel leaned in, yelling angrily as her fist came up again. Eyes widening, Odin’s neck puffed out as he forced an explosive burst of the sunlight to burst out of his mouth like a cannon. The second before it hit though, Hel’s hand darted over, and slapped around one of his tusks.
The blast threw Hel backwards, but her grip was true, and Odin was hurled forward before his tusk was forcefully ripped from his jaw. Roaring in pain as he slid on his belly in blood and soil, the cry faded from his mouth, and the battlefield went quiet.
After several tense moment, Odin and Hel pulled their respective, mangled, forms back up onto their feet. They looked at each other from across the plain, and Hel slowly hung her head. Her skin looked light parchment, and blood seeped from nearly every place on her body. ‘I’m tired…’ she admitted.
Odin heaved great breaths of air, his jaw hanging loose, blood gushed from his mouth and his face was swollen. “So...am I...grandchild…”
‘And…’ Hel gulped, shaking her head. ‘Odin, I will never, ever let you win or have my babies. They’re mine.’
“Heh…” Odin chuckled. “Well...not all of them...not anymore. Although it looks like you got my head Judge-”
‘They will all!...be mine…’ Hel snapped, and the area went quiet again.
Odin regarded her, and then gave a low exhale through his devastated nose. “I see...but…?”
Hel blinked thickly, hesitant with her next words. ‘But...but I don’t want to kill you grandpa. Not at all...and at least not today…’
Odin lowered his own head in thought, and then spat on the ground to clear his mouth for speech. “Neither do I little one...neither do I…”
Hel sighed. ‘Then it’s time for this day...to end…’
Odin nodded, letting his will to cease the fight to become known to his army while Hel did the same. “Some would call us fools...for not finishing what we started.” He observed the battlefield. He took note of how alarmingly well Hel’s rebels had done, not that the results of his own soldiers had been anything to sneer at. “We’ve both lost today…”
‘I think we can afford one last mistake of compassion...for family’s sake.’
Odin looked back at her to meet her eyes. For a moment, he understood where Hel was coming from, when it came to loving despite odds, and despite sense. “I think so too child…” There was a rumbling in the earth, and Odin’s mind recalled the image of the great wolf. He closed his eyes. “Goodbye granddaughter.”
Hel somehow knew that he meant it. ‘Bye gramps…’
And with that, the fighting came to a stop.
